Potsdam, N.Y. - Despite tallying 16 runs on the afternoon, the Clarkson University Baseball team faced an even more potent offensive performance from the Plattsburgh State Cardinals in a 22-16 loss, Wednesday afternoon.
With the non-league loss Clarkson moves to 16-13 overall as the team turns its focus to a crucial three-game series with rivals St. Lawrence University starting Friday afternoon. Plattsburgh State goes a game above .500 at 14-13.
A one-run top of the first and four-run top of the second provided Plattsburgh State with a five-run advantage before the Clarkson defense was able to get the first six outs in the field. Managing to break into the scoring column themselves, the Golden Knights got two back in the bottom of the second to trim the deficit to three. Ben Priest wore a breaking ball to his back to lead off the half-inning and move to second while James Chagnon walked to put runners at first and second with one out. A single through the right side off the bat of James Keck, the first hit of his collegiate career, would sneak just deep enough into right field to bring Priest in from second while Zach Worthington drove in the second run in the next at-bat with a fielder's choice up the middle infield.
With four errors over the first four frames, the Clarkson defense finally managed to keep the Cardinals offense off the board in the bottom of the fourth but not before a seven-run top of the third that pushed the visitors' lead to 12-2.
Clarkson added a third in the bottom of the fourth when Jake Oster sent a deep fly ball to straightaway center for a sacrifice fly, scoring Chagnon from third, who had reached on a single through the left side. A three-run response from the Cardinals in the top-half of the fifth meant that the visitors would still retain a comfortable 15-3 advantage.
Keck would bring across another two for Clarkson in the bottom of the fifth as his single up the middle brought across his second and third RBIs of the afternoon before Plattsburgh countered with a lone score in the top of the sixth to make it 16-5.
The bottom of the seventh and eighth would be all Clarkson as the Golden Knight offense forced the game's momentum to take a complete 180. With two outs in the seventh, Jeremy Albert ripped a single through the left side in a pinch-hit appearance to provide a bit of a spark that led to Chagnon unleashing a no-doubter over the left field fence, bringing it back to 16-7.
A 1-2-3 top of the eighth got the Golden Knights bats back up to the plate in the bottom half of the frame, which they were able to capitalize on strongly. Three walks to start meant that bases would quickly be loaded before a Beau Vardion grounder forced the shortstop and second basemen for the Cardinals to get the out at second but an overthrow to first would allow ake Hernigle to follow CJ Cartier across the plate and make it 16-9. Another walk and hit-by-pitch immediately juiced the bags again for the Knights as Jeremy Albert produced another single through the left side that scored Seth Albert and Vardion as all of a sudden the deficit was just five. Another walk, this time to Chagnon, was followed by Keck wearing a pitch to the head, allowing James Mason to jog across home to make it 16-12.
A pitcher change from the Cardinals could not stem the onslaught of walks as Hernigle forced another in the very next at-bat which would bring Jeremy Albert in from third. Plattsburgh eventually managed to get the second out of the frame on a fielder's choice at third, but the throw from the third baseman trying to get the runner at first brought across both Hernigle and Chagnon, making it just a one-run game. Thanks to the errant throw, Cartier was able to advance to third and eventually scored on a wild pitch to knot proceedings at 16-16. Clarkson looked destined to add even more but a forced pop-up with two outs that was caught by the catcher meant that Plattsburgh would never trail.
Answering with a scoring run of their own, the visitors would tack on another six in the top of the ninth, before forcing a 1-2-3 bottom half of the inning, taking the contest 22-16.
Keck and Chagnon led the Golden Knights at the dish with three hits each as Keck finished with four runs batted in and Chagnon with three. Jeremy Albert had the remaining two hits of the team's eight overall as Clarkson received a majority of their scoring through walks. Plattsburgh State ended the contest with 22 hits overall, led by Logan Provost with four hits and two RBIs.
